Pension Arrears: FG Assures Protesting Retirees Of Payment Before 2024 Ending

• As angry pensioners storm Finance Ministry’s headquarters

BY COBHAM NSA – Hard pressed by pensioners’ cry for help over the biting economic situation in the country, the Federal Government on Tuesday assured that outstanding pension arrears will be paid to all affected retirees before the year runs out.

This is as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, confirmed that the government had released and disbursed N22 billion, representing only 25 percent of the N88 billion budgeted for pension arrears in 2024.

Addressing members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPSS), who staged a protest at the Federal Ministry of Finance heaquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Edun said the remaining funds would soon be released with disbursements flaging-off next week to settle the arrears.

Irked by the continuous delay in settling their pension payment, the protesting retirees had marched on Ministry headquarters located in the Central Business District (CBD) of the nation’s capital to block the main entrance, demanding to see the Minister who ultimately pleaded with them for patience and understanding.

The retirees had expressed concerns over delayed payments, need for review and increment in line with new minimum wage while demanding prompt action to alleviate their financial hardships.

However, assuring them of government’s commitment to addressing their plight quickly, the Finance Minister said; “What has happened is that there is a backlog in terms of contributions, the backlog under the old system and there is a solution.

“There has been a Commiittee under the Head of Service, which has met the Minister of Budget, and we have a plan for dealing with the backlog under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

“In addition, under the current budget (2024), there is about N88bn of which N22bn has been paid. And that balance, we are committed to paying it. It has to be paid this year. We are committed to doing that starting next week”.

According to him, the government has moved to raise funds through the capital market towards clearing the backlog as part of a permanent and sustainable solution to the issues surrounding the outstanding pension arrears.

He further stated that; “In terms of the longer term, it is a huge amount, and we have to have a solution that takes care of everybody. That is being worked on. It’s going to be a question of going to the capital market and raising an instrument that allows that backlog to be cleared once and for all.

“In the immediate term, there will be payment for what is under the current budget and we are working, and we will present to Mr President a viable solution using the financial market to take care of the huge backlog under the contributory pension scheme.

“Your funding under the budget will be paid. We will start next week and pay for everything that we can under the current budget as approved by the National Assembly”.

Speaking earlier, the National Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPSS), Comrade Sylva Nutatwu, said the retirees also deserve to enjoy consequential adjustments in their pensions, arising from the implementation of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2024.

Comrade Nutatwu lamented that having written several letters to the Ministry without receiving any response, the Union members decided to physically approach the Minister by converging at the Ministry’s headquarters to voice their grievances.

In a prepared address handed to journalists, the Union pleaded with the government to pay the N32,000 pension increment to pensioners, noting that Nigerian workers who retired from the Contributory Pension Scheme over 20 months ago (March 2023 till date) were yet to receive their retirement benefits.

Further explaining their position, the NUPCPSS Chairman said; “CPS retirees were excluded from the three pension increments paid or approved by the present administration to retired public servants.

“Also, the release of funds for accrued rights to retired workers accumulated to over 20 months. However, three months accrued rights were released after a peaceful rally by the union at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on Oct. 23.

“We still have a backlog of 18 months yet to be released and this presents a cause for concern and worry to us as retired workers under the CPS”

Comrade Nutatwu, while frowning at the pathetic situation most pensioners have found themselves, said; “As it is today, retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have become endangered species, highly famished, dehumanised, and subjected to untold hardships in the Nigerian society. Many CPS retirees are bedridden, with many of them being sent to their early graves without enjoying the fruits of their labour after 35 years of using their youthful years to serve their fatherland.”.

Clearly capturing their frustration with the pension scheme, the Union Chairman cautioned those interested in joining what he described as the “unpleasant CPS bandwagon” to note the agonies they are likely to face at retirement, except urgent steps are taken to change the ugly narratives in the CPS sector.

For him, these unfortunate scenarios playing out in the pension industry are worrisome for retirees workers under the CPS, stressing that many of them spent more of their service years under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) than the CPS, and should therefore have the same constitutional rights to pension increments or other retirement benefits as those public servants under the DBS.

He said unfortunately unlike other retired public servants, the Federal Government seems to deliberately marginalise and discriminate against CPS retirees within the existing pension benefits framework, especially in relations to the new minimum wage implementation.